Bringing back a duffel cut K98

[David Lapell]

Earlier this year I found at the local gun shop for a very cheap price, a numbers matching K98, DOT 1944. All the markings are intact. The only problem was the stock had been duffel cut and the piece was missing. I decided to get it and take a chance, but instead of replacing the stock, I decided to repair it. What I learned was that the gun is a partial Kriegsmodell gun, as it has never been drilled for a cleaning rod. So after locating a donor piece for the stock, I drilled out and put in a large metal pin and two smaller pins to hold it together and then acraglassed the whole assembly together. I've shot it and it's held with no problems after firing both Yugoslavian surplus ammo and Federal factory ammo.







The cut stock, minus any hole for the cleaning rod.

[David Lapell]

The original stock cut down more to match the donor piece with the metal rods in place.



The donor piece.



The two trimmed and mated up.



The rifle in the vice with the acraglass setting.

[David Lapell]

The stock after the acraglass has hardened and cured but before cleaning up the excess.



The stock after clean up.





The stock after reassembly. When I put the stock back together, I also used a wooden dowel glued in place and filled in with wood putty to block off the cleaning rod hole as this gun was made without one being part-Kriegsmodell.

[David Lapell]

The rifle before shooting it. I've since darkened up the color of the repair piece with a darker stain. It will never be all original but at least it now looks like a K98 again. I also found a correct DOT stamped handguard for the gun as it was missing the handguard. I shot these groups at 50 yards. The gun doesn't shoot high, it's almost point of aim.



The small cluster is Federal 170 grain factory ammo, the larger group is Yugo surplus ammunition. I aimed high and the first shots were low, so I aimed point of aim and the last two were more centered. I plan on taking this rifle out at least once deer hunting this year.

[mike ford]

David.
Good work, You will be proud of this rifle and your kids will be proud the rest of their lives.
Mike